Collection Spotlight: The Role of Policy Commons
by Anita Kuiken, Applied Health and Social Sciences Librarian
Integrating Grey Literature into Public Health and Social Care Research
The Public Health and Social Care module within Policy Commons, part of the Coherent Digital Collection of databases available through SU Libraries, is a curated collection of policy and other forms of grey literature designed to support research, teaching and evidence-based practice in public health, health policy and social care. By integrating frontline health and social care materials into a single platform, this resource aims to make health research faster, more comprehensive and globally inclusive.
Scope and Content
The Public Health and Social Care module brings together grey literature from governments, non-governmental organizations, research institutes and international bodies. Its content encompasses policy reports, research studies, case reports, guidelines, health education materials, white papers, working papers, datasets and various other formats such as blogs, articles, videos and podcast episodes. This breadth of material ensures access to timely and authoritative information that is often not available through traditional scholarly publishing channels.
Research Applications
Policy Commons is particularly valuable for literature reviews, policy analyses, environmental scans and research that spans healthcare delivery, social services, population health and community well-being. By consolidating substantial and often hard-to-locate materials, the module significantly enhances the discoverability of subject-specific content and supports robust, interdisciplinary research.
Platform Features
Users can explore the collection by clicking on “Modules” from the top navigation bar and scrolling to “Public Health and Social Care.” The platform supports basic and advanced search strategies, allowing the use of Boolean operators (and/or/not), proximity searching (terms near one another), truncation and even the ability to search embedded tables. Results can then be filtered by content, publication type, mentions, organization, language, language, year, topics and date added. Researchers can download data in CSV or RIS formats, set up alerts to follow newly added content, upload content and create lists to share on course syllabi or special events.
Relevance for Evidence Synthesis
The extensive body of grey literature available through Policy Commons is especially valuable for evidence synthesis methodologies like systematic reviews, scoping reviews and rapid reviews that intentionally incorporate grey literature to mitigate publication bias. Because grey literature includes policy evaluations, technical documents, program studies and organizational research that are not typically disseminated through academic journals, its inclusion ensures a more complete and balanced evidence base. The Public Health and Social Care module therefore strengthens the rigor, inclusivity and policy relevance of evidence synthesis projects across public health, social care and related disciplines.
Need help navigating? Your librarian will be happy to help! To provide feedback or suggest a title to add to the collection, please complete the Resource Feedback Form.